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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


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CIHIVI/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


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Canadian  Inatituta  for  Hiatoricai  MicrOraproductiona  AInatltut  Canadian  da  microraproductiona  hiatoHquaa 


6^^ 


Tachnicai  and  Bibliographic  Motaa/No^aa  tachniquaa  at  bibliographiquaa 


Tha  Inajtltuta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographicaliy  uhiqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  In  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  uaual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackad  balow. 


L'Inatitut  a  microfilm*  la  maiilaur  axamplaira; 
qu'il  lui  a  iti  possibia  da  sa  procurar.  Las  details 
da  cat  axamplaira  qui  sont  paut-Atfa  uniquas  du 
point  da  vua  bibliographiqua.  qui  pauvant  modifiar 
una  imaga<  rap^oduita,  ou  qui  pauvant  axigar  una 
modification  dans  la  mAthoda  normala  da  f ilmaga 
sont  indiquia  ci-daaaOgsi 


n 

D 
D 


:s'i' 


D 
D 
S 

V     ■ 

D 


Colourad  covara/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 

Covars  damagad/ 
Couvartura  aijdommagia 


Cbvars  raatorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  raataurAa  at/ou  paliiculAa 

Cpvar  titia  missing/ 

Lsi  titra  da  couvartura  manqua       | 

Colourad  mapa/    \ 

Cartas  g*ographiquaa  an  coulaur  --       -^ 

Colourad  ink  li.a.  othar  than  -blua  or  black)/ 
Encrada  coulaur  (i.a.  autra  qua  blaua  ou  nojra) 

Colourad  piataa  and/or  illuatrp tions/ 
Planchaa  at/ou  illuatrationa  wn  coulaur 


Bound  with  othar  matariai/ 
Rali4  avac  d'autraa  documanta 


*'4 


D 


Tight  binding  may  eaun  shadowa  or  diatortion 
along  intarior  margin/ 

Larsliura  sarr*a  paut  causar  da  I'ombra  ou  da  la 
diatoraion  la  long  da  la  marga  intArlaura 

Blank  laavaa  addad  during  raatoration  may 
appaar  within  tha  taxt.  Whanavar  poaslbia,  thaaa 
hava  baan  omittad  from  fHming/ 
II  sa  pauf  qua  9artainaa  pagas  bianchas  aiout*aa 
lors  d'unr  raatauration  apparalaaant  dans  la  taxta, 
mala,  loraqua  cala  Atait  possibia.  caa  pagaa  n'ont 
paa  it*  film*aa.      - 

Additional  commanta:/ 
Commantairaa  suppl*mantairaa: 


Tha  e 
totH< 


Cplourad  pagaa/ : 
Pfgaa  da  coulaui: 

Pagaa  damagad/ 
Pagaa  andommagiaa 


□    Pagas  raatorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Pagas  raataurjiaa  at/ou  palUculiaa 

0    Pagaa  discolourad,  stainad  or  foxad/ 
Pagaa  d*coior*as.  tach'at*as  ou  jkiquiaa 

□Pagaa  datachad/ 
Pagas  d*tach4aal.^         l_     L 

Q^hbwthrough/ 
,  Tranaparane* 

□    Quality  of  print  variaa/    , 
Qualiti  inigala  da  I'lmprassion 

(,'  '      ' 

□   Includaa  supplamantary  matariai/* 
Comprand  du  matirial  supplimantaira 


Thai 
pos4j 
of  th 
filmii 


Origl 

bagii 

tha  l< 

sion, 

othai 

first 

sion. 

oeill 


D 


Only  adition  availabia/ 
Saula  4dition  disponibia 


□   Pagaa' wholly  or  partially  obscurad  by  arrata 
slips,  tissuas,  ate.  hava  baan  rafilmad  to 
anaura  tha  baat  possibia  imaga/ 
Laa  pagas  totaiamant  ou  partiallamant 
obacurcias  par  un  fauillat  d'arrata,  una  patura, 
ate.,  ont  *t*  film*as  *  nouvaau  da  faqon  * 
obtanir  la  maillaura  imaga  possibia. 


Tha 
ahaH 
TINi 
WhU 

Map 
diff« 
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righi 
raqu 
mati 


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The  copy  filmed  here  hea  been  reproduced  thanks 
National  Library  of  Canada  .     ' 


The  Jmeges  appearing  here  are  the  beet  quality 
pos^le  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  theoTiginal  copy  and  In  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  In  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  With  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impree- 
sion,  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  Or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impresstori> 


The  last  recorded  frame  en  each  microfiche 
shaH  contain  the  symbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"). 6r  the  syrhM  ▼  (mMn'nfl  "END"), 
whichever  appliee. 


trrats 
to 


p«>ur«. 
n  * 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  b« 
entirely  included  in  dne  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diegrame  Illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplalire  film*  fut  reprodult  grice  A  la 
g^nArositi  de: 

Biblloth*que  natlonale  du  Canada 


Las  images  suh^antes  ont  At*  reproduites  avec  le 
pine  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  le  condition  et 
de  la  nettetA  de  rexemplaire  filmA.  et  en 
conformltA  avec  las  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Las  exemplalres  briginaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  ImprimAe  sont  filmAs  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'hnpresslon  ou  d'lllustration.  solt  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  las  autres  exemplalres 
origlnaux  sont  fllmAs  en  commenpant  par  la  ^ 
.  premlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'Impreseion  ou  d'lllustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  dee  symb«rtes  suivahts  apparattra  sur  la 
dernlAre  Image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — »*  signlf le  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  ^  signlfle  "FIN".  / 

Les  cartes,  pisnches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Aire 
fllmAs  A  dee  taux  de  rAductlon  diff Arents.         /    " 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grend  pour  Atff 
reprodult  en  un  seul  cllchA,  11  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  geuche  A  drOlte. 
.et  de  heut  en  bas,  en  prenent  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessalre.  Les  diagrammes  sulvants 
lllustrent  la  mAthode.  v        ^-  ■ 


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I;^DiANA  Historical  Society  Pamphlets. 


\ 


isro.  3. 


THE    acquisition" 


OF  LOUISJANA. 


Bv  JUDGE  THOMAS   M,  COOLfiY. 


A 


INDIANAPOLIS: 
THK  BOWKN-MERRILL  CO.,  Pl'BLiSHKRS, 

1887. 


\ 


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■■ '  m\-'^''  i^^-¥%".  \^ " 


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n 


The  Acquisition  of  Louisiana, 


,_i^t,_- 


An  AddrcBs  delivered  before  the 'Indiana  Hiatorioal  Society, 
•  February  16,  1887. 


No  theatre  of  human  activity  has  been  more  prolific  of 
great  and  strikjing  events  and  changes  than  has  the  United 
States  of  America  since  independence  of  the  mother  country 
was  secured.  And  of  these  events  three  stand  out  speciaHy 
prominent,  'l)ecause  of  theft-  having  afl'ected  most  profoundly 
the  subsequent  history.  These  are  the  establishment  of  ter- 
ritorial government  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Federal  Constition,  and  the  purchase  of  Louisi- 
ana from  France.  The  first  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of 
slavery  on  the  American  continent ;  the  second  saved  the 
Ame/ican  States  from  anarchy  and  laid  enduring  foundation 
for  the  greatest  "republic  known  to  history ;  and  the  thjl^  in 
its  consequences,  increased  beyond  expectation  or  pr^Wecy 
the  importance  of  both  the  others,  and  gave  such  direcEon' 
to  the  subsequent  thoughtf  of  the  people,  and  led  to  such 
marshaUing  of.  political  forces,  thit  nearly  aU  the  leading 
events  of  later  American  history  were  either  traceable  -to  oi* 
in  some  measure  shaped  or  determined  by  it.. 

We  shall  'spend  no  time  on  this  occasion  in  a  consideration 
of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  so  peculiarly  interesting  to  us  who 
were  bred  under  its  protection  and  who  are  immediate  inher- 
itors of  its  blessings.  Neither  shall  we  now  discuss  the 
great  event  which  made  us  a  nation,  except  as  to  its  bear- 
ings upon  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  to  which  alone  at 
this  time  attention  will  be  directed. 
t  The  discovery  of  the  Western  (Continent  had  exposed  a  new 


M< 


,    -y 


f  * 


-4  THE    ACQUISITION    OF    LOUISIANA. 

world  of  wonderful  possibilities  to  the  grasp  of  thtf  first  people 
who  should  embrace  the  opportunity  to  s^ze  upon  It.  Its  sav- 
age inhabitants  were  neither  sufficiently  numerous  fitly  topos- 
eess  and  utlJIize  it,  nor  sufficiently  skilled  to  be  able  to  defend 
their  occupancy;  and  the  nations  of  Europe,  which  appro- 
priated to  themselves  the  designation  of  civilized,  treated 
the  country  as  derelict,  and  therefore  as  falling  by  rigKt  to 
the  first  finder.  And  then  began  the  great  race  in  coloniza- 
tion and  settlement,  which  continued  until  the  tremendous 
Impact  of  nation  with  nation  in  Europe  loosened  the  hold  of 
some  while  it  seemed  to  tighten  the  grasp  of  others,  but  was  all, 
the  wjjile  preparing  the  way  for  that  reaction  of  America 
upon  Europe  which  before  long  gave  birth  to  the  French 
Revolution,  and  for  a  generation  put  the  peace  and  industry 
of  the  world  at  the  mercy  of  a  gifted  but  unscrupulous  ad- 
venturer. 

French  and  Spanish  colonization  of  America  wpre  not 
more  remarkable  for  rapidity  and  extent  than  for  the  com- 
plete subjection  to  the  despotic  authority  .which  then  con- 
trolled the  two  countries  respectively.  The  Spaniards,  fol- 
lowing the  course  of  the  first  discoverer,  lost  no  time  in  pos- 
sessing themselves  of  vast  but  indefinite  regions  in  South  as 
wejl  as  North  America,  while  the  French,  directing  their 
course  farther  to  the  North,  entered  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
and  pushing  on  up  the  great  river  of  the  same  name,  were 
soon  exploring  the  vast  interior  beyond  its  head-waters, 
planting  here  and  there,  in  the  most  commanding  positions, 
their  missions  and  their  trading  posts,  until  at  length,  the 
Mississippi  was  reached,  upon  which  also  they  erected  the 
cross  and  established  trading  stations.  Every  mission^  and 
trading  post  was  a  military  station  also,  and  thie  whole  chaiir 
of  posts  from  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  and  around 
the  great  lakes  and  down  the  Mississippi  was  subject  to  the 
principle  of  absolute  obedience  to  the  King  and  his  vice- 
gerents, and  the  whole  structure  was  so  imposing  in  its  em- 
bodied force,  and  so  completely  and  immediately  available 
for  either  aggressive  or  defensive  warfare,  that  it  gave  to 
France  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  and  of  its  own  King  and  peo- 
ple a  grandeur  and  apparent  strength  quite  out  of  proportion 
to  the  meagre  settlement  that  had  been  made  under  the 
French  fiag,  and  for  a  long  time  enabled  the  French  colonial 
power  to  carry  on  a  doubtful  struggle  with  the  far  stronger 
but  less  perfectly  united  and  controlled  colonies  planted  by 


t^"^  --" 


THE    ACQUISITION    OF    LOUISIANA.  & 

theEnglish.  Bift  the  fall  o.f  Quebec  struck'  a  death  blow  to 
French  power  in  America,  and  by  the  treaty  of  Fontainelileau 
an  the  vast  region  claimed  by  the  French  e^st  of  the  l^issis-  * 
sippi,  the  island  of  Orleans  excepted,  was  surrendered  Anally 
p  England.  When  a  little  later  the  struggle  came  between 
England  and  her  colonies,  the  latter  were  enabled -feo  make 
good  their  claim  to  all  th^ceded, territory  south  and  west  of 
the  great  lakes,  and  by  the  treaty  of  peace  the  British  claim 
was  relinquished  and  the  few  military  posts  still  replaining 
in  British  hands  were  agreed  to  be  surrendered.  A  vexa- 
tious delay  afterwards  occurred,  and  the  surt-ender  was  not 
completed  until  after  the  ratification  of  Jay's  treaty,  but  the 
whole  North  West  Territory  then  came  under  the  beneficent 
provisions  of  the  anti^slavery  ordinance  which  had  previously 
been  put  in  force. 

When  the  Constitution  was  adopted  there  wad  abundant 
reason  for  believing  that  the  institution  of  slavery  would  never 
in  tlie  United  States  rise  to  any  great  political  importance. 
The  public  conscience  was  not  then  very  sensitive  /to  its 
wrongs,  but  enlightened  men  in  all  sections  opposed  it,  and 
the  opposition  was  nowhere  more  pronounced  than  in  Virgin- 
ia,, whose  leading  statesmen  clearly  perceived  its  political 
and  social  evils.  The  pecuniary  interest  in  it  was  the^  small 
as  compared  to  what  it  became  a  few  years  later ;  and  had 
not  the  condition  of  things  greatly  changed,  it  must  in  time 
have  peaceably  passed  away,  without  shock  to  the  Constitu-- 
tional  structure.  But  when  the  new  cotton  machinery  had 
made  that  crop  the  most  valuable  of  American  staples,  new 
and  unanticipated  strength  was  given  to  the  institution, 
which  was  wonderfully  augmented  by  the  purchase  of  that 
vast  territory  then  vaguely  J^wn-  as  Louisiana.  Of  the. 
transcendent  importance  oiOTt  event,  aside  from  the  ex- 
pansion of  territory,  we  get  mtae  idea,  when  we  reflect  that 
.th€  Mieisouri  Compromise,  the  Annexation  of  Texas,  the 
Compromise  of  1850,  the  Kansas  Nebraska  bill,  the  Dred 
Scott  case,  and  at  length  the  civil  war,  were  events  in  regu- 
lar-sequence,  directly  traceable  to  it,  not  one  of  which  would 
have  occurred  without  it.  Th^  United  States  of  to-day  stands 
as  it  does  in  the  first  rank  of  nations,  strong  and  self  center- 
ed, and  without  threatening  diversit^^of  interest  among  the 
states,  because  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  1803,  without  constitutional 
justification  as  he  then  believed,  assumed  on  behalf  of  the 
Union  to  make  a  purchase  *)f  foreign  territory.     The  pur- 


I 


!P 


TBE 


AOQUISKTION    O^.  I^UISIANA. 


chase,  therefore,  standf^  out  on  the  pages  of  history  as  otie 
of  those  significant  and  mighty  events  that  distinguish  the 
epoch  of  occurrence ; ,  not  the  less  significant  because  of,  be- 
ing accomplished  peacefully,  and  wit>hout  disturbing  the 
social  and  industriaL^tate.  JRvents  of  such  trai^sc^ndent 
importance 'seldom  occur  except  as  a  resujt  of- bloodshed 
and  disaslAer ;  and  the  purchase  of  LouisitCna  therefore  chal- 
lenges our  special  attention,  not  merely  from  its  ^influence 
upon  subsequent  events,  but  from  its  unique  character.  We 
may  well  give  a  brief  hour  to  an  inquiry  in|;o  the  circum- 
stances which  led  up  to  it,  and  into  the  motfves  umder  the 
influence  of  which  it  was  accoraTplishpd..  Possibly  as  wc  do 
■«o  we  may  be  conscious  of  a  doubt  whether  those  who  were 
concerned  in  it  were  aware  at  the  time  of  the  great  part  they 
were  pTa:ying  in  the  history  .of  the  world./'  "  .   ^  ^ 

And  first,  a  word  regarding  the  nituation. 

Settlers  in. considerable  numbers  had  crossed  the  moun- 
tains into  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  whije  the  war  of  Inde- 
pendence wa«  in  progress.  Witji  most  of  them  a  love  of  ad- 
'  venture  rather  than  the  prospect  of  gain  was  the  motive;  for 
the  woods  were  full;of  hostile  Indians,  and  at  Detroit  the 
British  Commandant  Hamilton,  with  subordinates  St  Vin- 
oennes  and  Kaskaskia,  was  .vigilant  and  relentless  in.directr 
ing  the  savage  warfare  against  the  settlements  and  keeping 
them  in  constant  alarm.  But  the  country  was  of  such  won- 
derful fertility  as  to  make  it  (juite  worth  the  necessary  strug- 
gle ;  and  settlement  not  only  went  on  while  the  war  contin- 
.^-ued,  but  the  settlers  were  enabled  to  make  their  hostile  meas- 
ures againsfth^ir  British  adversaries  so  effective  that  when 
peace  came  the  whole  valley  of  the  Ohio  was  in  their  hands, 
and  settlenfieht,  in  it, was  going  on  with  constantly  increasing 
rapidity.  •  .  -  <        — 

At  once  it  became  a  question  of  vital  importance  how  these 
people  were  to  find  avenues  of  comirgeroe  with  the  outer 
world.  There  was  no  natural  highway  to  the. east  until  the 
Potomac  or  thie  lakes' should  be  reached,  and  tl\e  profitable 
transportation  ot  agricultural  or  forest  products  to  market 
by  land  was  entirely  out  of  the  question.  The  dicflBulty  was 
«o  obvious  and  apparently  so  insurmountable  that  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Mstern  States  very  generally  assumed  that  the 
great  interior  must  necessarily  be  settled  slowlj',  and  that  a 
,  generation  or  more  inust. pass  away  before  its  commerce 
.tfiould  be  of  considerable  importance.     It  was   also   a  preva- 


•  / 


'    ( 


■:) 


TIJK    A^QUISITIOK    OF    LOUISIANA. 


lent  notion  that  the  spread  of,  population  over  sb  v^st  a  re- 
gion would  in  4tself  constitute  a  severe  and  perhaps  fatal 
test  of  repi4)lican  instifjitions.  History  it  ^as  said  did  not 
warrant  the  belief  that  popular  government  could  exist  tpr  ' 
any  considepable  period  except  in  citifeS  and  smalldistricts 
of  territory ;  and  when  Fisher  Ames  said  in  17W,  "Ages  ', 
must  elaps'e  before  our  western  wilderness  will^be  peopled, 
and  (4rod  ^lone  knows  how  it  can  be  governed,"  he  gave  ex- 
pressio]^  to  ideas  which  were  common  in  political  circles  the 
world-oter;^    Ttrere  were  nevertheless  some  far-sighted"  men  - 

'  who,  read  the  immediate  future  more  accurately,  and  who  had 
n  faith  in  the  strength  and  vigor  of  republican  instjitutions  ^ 
which  was  not  circumscribed  within  narrow  limits,  nof  dr^- 

'  turbed  by  the  Xfdk  of  historical  precedents.  Among  the-"^ 
most  Confident  ^  these  was  Washington,  who  had^JFrom  the 
first  appreciated  the  value  of  the'West  to  the  Union,  and  who 
immediately  on  the  successful  termination  of  the  Revolution- 
ary war  had  addressedjiis  thoughts  to  the  subject  of  a  high- 
way for  immigration  and  commerce  by  means  of  artificial  water 
coiiimunication  connecting  the  Potomac  and  the  Ohio.  But 
his.  attention  was  soon  drawn  away  to  public  matters  of  more  " 
immediate  interest,  and  the  projected  canal  was  postponed. 

Immigration  to  the  interior  must  cross  the  mountains;^  " 
but  the  natural  highway  ^r  commerce  was  the  Mississippi  ' 
river.     If  the  use  of  this  river  wer^  left  free,  nothing  bettei" 
cduld  b^  desired.     Unfortunately  it  >^a8  not  free.     The  east 
bink  5t  the  river  as  far  south  ais   the  north  baundary  of. 
Florida  was  the  property  of  the  Aited-States,  Jjut  the  west   .^ 
blnk,  together  with  the  island  of  Oj-leans  was  held  by  Spain.  ^ 
That  power,  while/ conceding  to  the  people  of  the  United  > 
States  the  free  na:vigation  of  the  Mississippi  as  farMowp  as 
the  American  ownership  of  the  left  bank  extended,  clsrimed 
iixclusive  Jilrisdiction  below  that  line*,  and  proposed  to  exact 
i^ustoms  duties  from  such   American  commerce   as  should  * 

\^  pass  in  or  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  rivjer. 

This  preteii^ion  if  yielded  to  would  place  all  that-coin- 
inerce  at  the  mercy  of  Spain,  And  render  not"nierely  the  nav- 
igation of  the  river  of  little  value,*^  but  the  very  land  from  ■ 
which  the  commerce  sprung.  It  was  inconceivable  that  such 
pretensions  should  be  tolerated  if  successful  resistance  were 
possible,  but  the  settlers  Were  able  to  combat'  it  on  .two 
git)unds,  either  of  which  ^emed,  according  to  recognized 

.rules  of  international  law,  conclusive.      —      ^       ^     "     ^ 


t~^ 


iiil 


y 


i-j 


.^   ' 


8 


THE    ACQUISITION    OP   X0UI«L4NA.' 


/ 


First,  As  citizens  of  the  countty  owning  one  of  the  bank» 
on  the  upper  portion  of  the  stream,  they  claimed  ihe  free 
navigation. to  the  sea  with  the  privilege  of  a  "landing  place 
at  its  mouth  as  a  natural  right";  and  they  were  able  to  fortify 
this  claimr— if  it  needed  support — with  the  opinions  of  pub- 
licists of  acknowledged  authority.  ^ 

Second,  They  claimed  under  the  treaty  of  il763  between 
Great  Britain  and  France,  whereby  the  latter  then  the  owner 
of  Louisiana,  had  conceded  to  the  former  the  free  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  in  its  whole  breadth  and  length,  with  pas- 
sage in  and  out  of  its  mouth,  subject  to  the  payment  of  no 
duty  whatsoever.  Whatsoever  rights  Great  Britain  secured 
.  by  this  treaty  were  secured  for  the'  advantage  of  the  people 
wjho  t^erejto  enjoy  them,  and  must  therefore  have  passed  with 
the  transfer  of  dominion  to  the  United  States ;  and  whatso- 
ever servitude  the  Spanish  part  of  the  river  was  subject  to 
when  held  by  France,  it  must  be  subject  to  in  the  £iands  of 
the  nation  to  which  France  had  transferred  its  jurisdiction. 
'  Thus  both  in  natural  right  and  by  treaty  concession  tlie 
claim  of  the  American  settler's  seemed  incontrovertible,  and 
perhaps  it  may  fairly  be  said  th^t  the  whole  country  agreed 
in  this  view.  When  Mr.  Jay,  while  the  war  of  independence 
was  still  in  progress,  was  sent  to  Spain  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
of  unity  and  assistance,  he  was  specially  charged  with  the 
duty  to  see  that  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississijipi  was 
conceded.  All  his  endeavors  to  that  end,  however,  resulted 
in  failure,  and  he  was  compelled  to  return  home  with  the 
American, claim  still  disputed.  In  1785  the* negotiation  wat* 
transferred  to  this  country,  and  Mr.  Jay  rene^yed  his  effort 
to  obtain  concessions,  but  without  avail.  The  tenacity  with 
which  Spain  held  to  its  claim  was  so  persistent  that  Con- 
gress in  its  anxiety  to  obtain  a  treaty  of  commerce  finally 
instructed  Mr.  Jay  on  its  behalf  to  constent  that  for  twenty-* 
five  years  the  United  States  should  forbear  to  claim  the 
right  in  dispute.  The  instruction  was  given  by  the  vote  of 
the  seven  Northern  States  against  a  united  South;  ai^d  the 
action  was  so  distinctly  sectional  as  to  threaten  the  stability 
of  the  Union."  The  southern  people  were  with  some  reason 
excited  and  angry ;  and  the  charge  was  freely  made  that  the 
Noi^h,  to  secure  to  itself  commercial  advantages,  had  ungeu 
«rou8ly  and  uj^jfairly  sacrificed  the  interest  of  the  South  ara 
West,  inhere  ^s  enough  in  the  circumstances  to.  make  ^e 
ehargeijseem  altogether  plausible;  and  threats  that  the  din- 


^1/ 


■■#f" 


THE    ACQUISITION    OF    LOUI8IAMA. 


9 


satisfied  people  would  take  redress  into  their  own  hands  re- 
gardless of  treaty  stipulations  were  freely  indulged  in. 

In  the  West  the  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  was  most  intense, 
and  uncompromising.  The  settlers  oi  Kentucky  already 
deemed  themselves  sufficiently  numerous  and  powerftfl  to  be 
entitled  to  set  up  a  state  government  of  their  own, '  and  to 
have  a  voice  in  the  councils  of  the  Confederation.  It  seemed 
to  them,  therefore,  an  insult  as  well  as  an  injury  when  their 
right  to  the  \i8e  of  their  great  national  highway  was  thus, 
and  as  they  believed  on  selfish  grounds,  put  aside  without 
tso  much  as  consulting  their  wishes  or  their  interests.  To 
waive  their  right  was  to  check  their  prosperity ;  fo/ their 
lands  without  it  were  o'f  little  value,  and  accumulations  as  a 
result  of  their  labors  and  privations  would  be  entirely  out  of 
the  question.  From  that  time,  therefpre,  the  movement  for 
a  state  government  was  accompanied  and  strengthened  by  a 
feeling  that  the  settlers  beyond  thgtaountains  were  treated 
with  neglect  and  conteippt  by  thelRninant  majority  in  the 
Confederacy ;  so  that  the  influences  which  drew  the  settler* 
together  in  sentiment,  drew  them  at  thje  sam«  time  away  from 
the  Union. 

In  Tennessee  as  well  as  in  Kentucky  settlements  had  been 
going  on  rapidly ;  >tnd  perhaps  in  the  former  even  more  dis- 
tinctly than  in  the  latter  a  growing   indifference   to   the 
national  bond  was  manifest.     Serious  complaint  had  been 
made  by  the  settlers  when  North  Carolina  ceded  its  wester^ 
lands  to  the  United  States ;  and  in  1784  their  dissatisfaction 
rose   to   a   height   that  impelled  them  to  revolution.     The 
authority   of    the    parent   state   was   repudiated,    and    the 
settlers  organized  a  state  of   their  own  which  they  called 
Franklin,  and  proceeded  to  give  .it  offlcfers  and  enforce  their 
jurisdiction.     The  likelihood  of  civil  war  was  for  a  time 
threatening;  but  this  strange  episode  of   a  revolutionary 
state  peacefully  performing  its  functions  was  finally  after 
four  years  tolerance  brought  to  an  end,  and  the  state  disman- 
tled, through  wise  measures  of  conciliation  on  the  part  of 
North  Carolina  authorities.     But  the  feeling  of  dissatisfac- 
tion with  Spanish  pretensions  remained  and  continued  to- 
grow  in  intens/ty ;  and  one  of  the  diflBeult  questions  which 
confronted  the  new  government,  formed  under  the  Federal 
constitution,  was  how  to  deal  with  this  feeling  and  control 
or  remove  it.     Spanish  levies  on  American  conpimerce  were 
in  some  cases  almost  prohibiiory,  reaching  fifty  or  seventy*  , 


it 


>^.-f 


1 


-^**i- 


',CWf».' 


THE    ACQUISITION    OF    LOUI8IAMA. 


» 


satisfied  people  would  take  redress  into  their  own  bunds  re- 
gardless of  treaty  stipulations  were  freely  indulged  in. 

In  the  West  the  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  was  most  intense 
and  uncompromising.  The  settlers  ol'  Kentucky  already 
deemed  themselves  sufficiently  numerous  and  powerfiil  to  be 
entitled  to  set  up  a  state  government  of  their  own,  and  to 
have  a  voice  in  the  councils  of  the  Confederation.     It  seemed 

H^hf  i^'/Zi^^^.^/"^^;  ^^  infiult  as  well  as  an  injury  when  their 
right  Ut  lliu  usetTiMUuir  griwr  natto^fit  highway  wm  thus, 
and  as  they  believed  on  selflHh  grounds,  put  aside  without 
,  HO  much  as  consulting  their  wishes  or  their  interests.  To 
waive  their  right  was  to  check  their  prosperity;  tot  their 
lands  without  it  were  of  little  value,  and  accumulations  as  a 
result  of  their  labors  and  privations  would  be  entirely  out  of 
the  question.  From  that  time,  therefpre,  the  movement  for 
a  state  government  was  accompanied  and  strengthened  by  a 
feeling  that  the  settlers  beyond  thgnountains  were  treated 


10 


THE    ACQUISITION  Of    LOUISIANA. 


five  per  cent,  ad  valorem  and  it  was  quite  out  of  the  question 
that  hardy  backwoodsmen  trained  to  arms  should  for  any 
considerable  time  submit  to  pay  them.  If  the  national  gov- 
ernment failed  to  secure  their  rights  by  diplomacy,  they 
would  seek  redress  in  such  other  way  as  might  be  open  to 
them.  ' 

.  Five  different  methods  of  redress  suggested  themselves  to 
different  minds ;  and  Mr.  'Martin  the  historian  of  Louisiana 
assures  us  that  parties  were  to  be  found  in.  the  West  who 
advocated  each  of  them. 

I.  The  West  might  declare  its  separation  from  the  Union  and 
the  establishment  of  an  independent  republic,  which  would 
secure  protection  and  at  the  saiiM^  time  obtain  its  rights  in 
the  Mississippi  by  entering  into  a  treaty  ef  alliance  and  com- 
merce with  Spain.  '  '  ^ 

II.  The  country  might  with  the  consent  of  its  people  be 
annexed  to  the  province  of  Louisiana,  and  Spanish  laws  and 
institutions  accepted  as  a  lesser  evil  than  federal  neglect 
with  existing  Spanish  oppressions. 

III.  War  mght  be  made  upon  Spain,  and  New  Orleans  and 
West  Florida  seized  and  held  by  the  settlers  regardless  of 
federal  authority. 

IV.  Congress  might  by  active  and  forcible  measures  com- 
pel Spain  to  yield  the  privileges  and  rights  which  had  been 
refused  to  negotiation. 

V.  The  settlers  might  place  themselves  under  the  protec- 
tion of  France ;  soliciting  her  to  procure  a  retrocession  of 
Louisiana  and  to  extend  her  protection  over  Kentucky  and 
the  Cumberland  settlements. 

But  while  all  these  variou^emedies  suggested  themselves 
to  the  minds  of  the  people,  it  can  be  safely  assumed  that  a 
prevailing  sentiment  existed  in  Tavor  of  the  existing  connec- 
tion with  the  Union,  and  that  redress  at  the  handsof  France 
or  Spain  was  looked  to  only  in  the  contingency  that  any 
other  was  found  to  be  impracticable. 

Among  the  m^t  prominent  of  the  Kentucky  settlers  web 
Oen.  James  Wilkinson,  who  had  gone  there  as  a  merchant 
in  1784.  He  was  shortly  found  advocating,  though  some- 
what covertly,  the  setting  up  of  an  independent  State  Gov- 
«rnment.  In  1787  he  opened  trade  with  New  Orleani|,  and 
endeavored  to  impress  upon  the  Spanish  authorities  the  im- 
portance of  an  amicable  understanding  with  the  settlers  in  the 
Ohio  valley.     His  representations  for  a  time  had  considerable 


-^i; 


ii--^-!?;-  ..o'*.?-,-^-^- 


THE    AGQUI8ITIOJI    OF    LOUISIANA. 


11 


effect,  and  the  trade  ^JMHP  ^^^y  relieved  of  oppressiye  bur- 
dens, but  Americans  iti^Hpivited  to  make  settlements  within 
Spanish  limits  in  Louisfafillind  West  Florida.  A  considerable 
settlement  was  actually  inade  at  New  Madrid  under  this  invi-' 
tation.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  genuine  good 
feeling  inspired  this  policy ;  the  purpose  plainly  in  view  was 
to  build  up  a  Spanish  party  among  the  American  settlers 
And  eventually  to  detach  them  from  the  United  States.  But 
the  course  pursued  was  variable,  being  characterized  in  turn 
by  liberality  and  by  rigor.  Wilkinson  appears  to  have  been 
Allowed  special  privileges  in  trade,  and  this  together  with 
the  fact  that  he  was  known  to  receive  a  heavy  remittance 
from  New  Orleans,  begat  a  suspicion  that  he  was  under 
Spanish  pay ;  a  suspicion  from  which  he  was  never  wholly 
relieyed,  and  which  probably  to  some  extent  affected  the 
judgments  of  men  when  he  came  under  further  suspicion  in 
consequence  of  equivocal  relations  with  Aaron  Burr.  In 
1789  a  British  emissary  made  his  appearance  in  Kentucky, 
whose  mission  seemed  to  be  to  sound  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  respecting  union  with  Canada.  He  came  at  a  bad 
time  for  his  purposes ;  for  the  feeling  of  t^ie  country  against 
Oreat  Britain  was  then  at  its  height,  and  was  particularly 
strong  in  the  West,  where  the  failure  to  deliver  up  the  posts 
within  American  limits  was  known  to  have  been  influential 
in  encouraging  Indian  hostilities.  The  British  agent,  there- 
fore, met  with  anything  but  frjendly  reception,  and  found^it 
for- his  interest  to  maintain  secr^y  as  far  as  possible,  and  to 
take  speedy  departure.  But  the  Spanish  authorities  contin- 
ued their  intrigues,  and  in  1795,  Thomas  Powers,  an  English- 
man who  had  become  a  Spanish  subject,  and  Don  Manuel 
Oayoso,  a  brigadier  "General  in  the  armies  of  Spain,  and 
then  holding  the  office  of  Govsrnor  of  Natchez,  we»e  sent  on 
a  secret  mission  to  the  disaffected  settlers.  What  was  done 
by  them  waiS  carefully  veiled  in  secrecy,  but  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  men  in  high  position  were  ready  to  listen  to 
their  advances.  But  the  putting  down  of  what  is  known  as 
the  Whisky  Insurrection  in  western  Pennsylvania  and  the 
tinal  defeat  of  the  Indians  by  General  Wayne  had  greatly 
Htrengthened  the  national  sentiment  and  made  treasonable 
plans  proportionately  more  dangerous ;  so  that  this  mission 
also  had  no  result.  Meantime  Spain  had  become  so  far  com- 
plicated in  European  wars  as  to  be  solicitous  regarding  the 
preservation  of  her  own  American  possessions,  then  bordered 


18 


THE    ACQUISITION    OF    LOUISIANA. 


by  a  hostilS  people,  and  at  her  suggestion  an  enToy  was  sent 
by  the  United  States  to  Madrid,  with  whom  in  October  1795 
a  treaty  was  made  whereby  among  other  things  it  was  agreed 
that  Spain. should  permit  the  people  of  the  United  States  for 
the  term  of  three  years  to  make  use  of  the  port  of  ^ew 
Orleans  as  a  place  of  /deposit  for  their  produce  and  merchan- 
dise, and  to  export  tihe  same  free  from  ail  duty  or  charge 
except  for  storage  aid  in«idental  expenses.  At  the  end  of 
the  three  years  the  treaty  contemplated  further  negotiations, 
and  it  was  hoped  by  ihe  American  authorities  that  a  decisive 
step  had  been  takeri  towards  the  complete  recognition  Qf 
American  claims. 

The  treaty,  howe^^r,  was  far  from  satisfying  the  people  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  who  looked  upon, the  assent  of 
Spain  to  it  as  a  mere  makeshift  for  the  protection  of  her 
territory  from  invasion.  Projects  for  taking  forcible  pos- 
session of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  continued  therefore 
to  be  agitated.  In  1798  after  the  admission  of  Tennessee 
to  the  Union,  William  Blount,  one  of  its  Senators,  was  ex- 
pelled from  the  Senate  on  the  charge  of  conspiring  to  set  on 
foot  an  expedition  against  the  Spanish  American  possessions, 
but  his  punishment  only  made  him  more  popular  than  ever 
in  his  own  State,  and  he  was  likely  to  be  chosen  Governor 
as  a  marie  of  their  approval  had  not  his  death  occurred 
before  the  time  of  election. 

It  is  evident  that  this  state  of  affairs  continually  boded 
mischief,  and  the  difficulty  of  preserving  friendly  relations 
with  Spain  was  greatly  increased  by  the  existence  of  Euro- 
pean wars  in  which  that  power  was  involved. 

The  schemes  of  Don  Francisco  de  Miranda  for  the  over- 
throw of  Spanish  authority  in  America  now  became  impor- 
tant. Mirai^da  was  of  Spanish-American  birth,  and  had  been 
in  the  United  States  while  the  war  of  Independence  was 
pending  and  formed  acquaintance  among  the  American  of- 
ficers. Conceiving  the  idea  of  liberating  the  Spanish  colon- 
ies, he  sought  assistance  from  England  and  Russia,  but 
when  the  French  Revolution  occurred  he  enlisted  in  the 
French  service  and  for  a  time  held  important  military  posi- 
tions. Driven  from  France  in  1797  he  took  up  his  old  scheme 
again,  looking  now  to  England  and  America  for  the  necessa- 
ry assistance.  Several  leading  American  statesmen  were  ap- 
proached on  the  subject,  Hamilton  among  them ;  and  while 
the  relations  between  France  and  the  United  States  seemed 


^ 


THE    ACQUISITION    OF    LOUISIANA. 


13 


-jiikely  to  result  in  war,  that  great  man,  who  had  no  fear  of 
evils  to  result  from  the  extension  of  territory,  listened  with 
approval  to  the  project  of  a  combined  attack  T)y  British  and 
American  forces  on  the  Spanish  Colonies,  and  would  have 
been  willing  with  the  approval  of  the  government,  to  person- 
ally take  part  in  it.  President  Adams,  however,  frowned 
upon  the  scheme,  and  it  was  necessarily  but  with  great  re- 
luctance abandoned.  ^ 
And  now  occurred  an  event  of  highest  interest  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States.  Spain  aware  of  her  precarious  hold 
upon  Louisiana,  /In  1800  retroceded  it  to  France.  The  coun- 
try thus  passed  |rom  a  weak  nation  to  a  strong  one ;  from  a 
people  to  whose/ enmity  Americans  would  be  comparatively 
indifferent,  to  Another  that  in  our  extremity  had  been  our 
friend  and  all^,  and  with  whom  we  had  just  been  arranging 
unpleasant  controversies,  and  Ivould  not  willingly  have  new 
difficulties  opened.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  deeply  stirred  when 
he  learned  of  it  and  foreboded  only  evil  from  France  possess- 
ing itself  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  -  He  immediately 
addressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  Livingston  the  American  minster 
at  Paris,  in  which  in  Strong  terms  he  expressed  his  anxiety. 
The  retrocession  he  said,  "completely  reverses  all  the  polit- 
ical relations  of  the  United  States,  and  will  form  a  new 
epoch  in  our  political  course."  "France,"  he  went  on  to  say, 
"we  have  ever  looked  to  as  our  natural  friend ;  as  one  with 
which  we  could  never  have  an  occasion  of  difference,"  But 
France,  placing  herself  at  the  dbor  of  our  interior  commerce, 
"assumes  to  us  the  attitude  of  defiance.  Spain  might  have 
retained  it  quietly  for  years.  Her  pacific  disposition,  her  fee- 
ble state,  would  induce  her  to  increase  our  facilities  there,  so 
that  her  possession  of  the  place  would  be  hardly  felt  by 'us,  and 
it  would  not  perhaps  be  very  long  before  some  circumstance 
might  arise  which  might  make  the  cession  of  it  to  us  the  price  of 
something  of  more  worth  to  her.  Not  so  can  it  ever  be  in 
the  hands  of  France;  the  impetuosity  of  her  temper,  the 
energy  and  restlessness  of  her  character,  placed  in  a  point 
of  eternal  friction  with  us,  and  our  character,  which,  though 
<iuiet  and  loving  peace  and  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  is  high 
minded,  despising  wealth  in  competition  with  insult  and  in- 
jury, enterprising  and  energetic  as  any  nation  on  earth; 
these  circumstances  render  it  impossible  that  France  and 
the  United  States  can  long  continue  friends  when  they  meet 
in  so  irritable  a  position."     The  consequence  which  he  fore- 


I 


^ 


14 


THE    ACQUISITION    OF    LOUISIANA. 


saw  was  the  forcing  of  America  into  the  arms  of  Britain, 
"This  is  not  a  state  of  things,"  he  said,  "we  seek  or  desire. 
It  is  one  which  thisjmeasnre,  if  adopted  by  France,  forces  on 
u^  necessarily  as  any  other  course,  by  the  laws  of  nature^ 
brings  on  its  necessary  result."  In  this  change  of  friends- 
Amel-ica  will  be  compelled  to  embark  in  the  first  war  of 
Europe,  and  "in  that  case  France  will  have  held  possession 
of  New  Orleans  during  th^  interval  of  a  peace,  long  or  short, 
at  the  end  of  which  it  would  be  wrested  from  her." 

It  is  plain  from  this  letter  that  Jefferson  believed  an  em- 
ergency had  arisen  which  made  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana 
by  the  United  States  imperative.  The  country  in  the  hands 
of  France  made  that  power  our  continual  antagonist,  and 
almost  certain  enemy.  Our  oldest  friend  and  ally  would 
thus  be  lost  to  us,  though  her  interests  in  other  respects 
were  such  as  ought  to  insure  the  most  useful  relations  and 
the  most  amicable  intercourse.  But  while  losing  France  we 
should  at  the  same  time  be  thrown  into  the  arms  of  our  old 
enemy  England,  our  natural,  most  persistent  and  unscrupu- 
lous competitor  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  England  it 
might  be  assumed  would  not  hesitate  to  take  any  possible 
advantage  of  the  situation  which  would  benefit  herself,-  and 
the  political  independence  which  with  so  much  expense  of 
life  and  treasure  had  been  secured,  would  under  such  cir- 
cumstances fail  to  establish  the  commercial  independence 
which  was  necessary  to  make  it  of  much  value.  And  it  i& 
not  unlikely  that  Mr.  Jefferson  contemplated  the  contingen- 
cy that  the  West,  irritated  by  the  failure  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment to  give  full  protection  to  a  natural  right  of  trans- 
cendent importance,  as  was  .the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi, 
might  undertake  to  throw  off  its  allegiance,  and  either  to  set 
up  a  government  of  its  own,  or  to  become  a  dependency  of 
France  or  England.  The  probabilty  of  such  an  attempt  wa» 
not  so  great  as  it  had  been  a  few  years  before,  but  it  was 
certain  that  while  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  was  thus 
held  by  a  strong  and  aggressive  power,  the  possession  must 
constitute  to  some  extent  a  menace  to  American  unity  as  it 
did  also  to  American  commercial  independence. 

Mr.  Jefferson  with  his  partiality  for  France  oould  be  ex- 
pected to  give  no  countenance  to  any  scheme  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  Louisiana  that  was  nojt  amicable,  or  that  did  not  con- 
temj^late  fair  compensation.  But  a  difficulty  here  presented 
itself  to  his  mind  which  at  first  blush  would  appear  insur- 


- 1, . .)  ■  -1  ^ 


THE    ACQUISITION    OF    LOU18IAMA. 


15 


mountable.  The  Constitution  wliich  was  the  measure  of 
national  powers  did  not  in  terms  confer  upon  the  Federal 
government  the  power  to  acquire  foreign,  territory.  It  gave 
to  Congress  the  power  to  make  regulations  for  the  territory 
and  other  property  of  the  United  States,  but  the  territory  in- 
tended was  evidently  that  which  then  belonged  to  the  Union, 
It  also  contemplated  the  admission  of  new  states  ^o  the  Union ; 
but  this  also  had  in  view  the  territory  then  possessed  by  the 
United  States  and  the  possible  divisioij^  of  it  into  new  state's. 
These  provisions  had  therefore  abundant  subject  matter  on 
which  to  operate  without  looking  to  an  enlargemeilt  of  the 
bounds  of  the  Union,  and  nothing  in  the  debates  of  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention  indicated  an  expectation  on  the  part  of  its 
members  that  any  such  enlargement  would  take  place.  Mr. 
Jefferson  belonged  to  the  school  of  strict  construction,  and 
was  in  fact  its  leader  and  apostle.  He  had  found  himself  in 
opposition  to  the  administration  of  Washington  on  some  very 
important  measures  whose  constitutionality  was  only  to  be 
sustained  on  an  assumption  of  implied  powers,  and  by  th& 
defeat  of  Mr.  Adams  he  had  been  elevated  to  the  presMency 
as  the  exponent  of  the  anti-federal  views.  But  under  a  con- 
struction of  the  Constitution  as  strict  as  he  had  been  insist- 
ing upon,  it  was  plain  that  the  government  would  have  no 
power  to  acquire  foreign  territory  by  purchase,  and  that  any 
amettpt  in  that  direction  would  be  usurpation. 

The  case  presented  then  was  one  in  which  something  im- 
portant to  the  peace  and  welfare,  perhaps  to  the  very  per- 
petuation, of  the  Union,  could  not  be  accomlplished  under 
the  Constitution  because  the  necessary  power  had  not  been 
conferred  upon  the  general  government  for  the  purpose.  To 
give  the  necessary  authority  an  amendment  of  the  Constitu- 
tion would  be  essential,  and  amendment  would  be  a  slow 
process  which  might  not  be  accomplished  in  time  to  meet 
the  emergency.  The  case  would  be  complicated  by  the  fact 
that  if  the  territory  was  acquired  a  considerable  population 
would  be  brought  into  the  Union  and  thus  made  citizens  by 
a  process  of  naturalization  not  contemplated  by  the  Consti- 
tution. Mr.  Madison,  the  Secretary  of  State,  agreed  with 
the  President  in  his  views.  To  use  Mr.  Jefferson's  words, . 
"The  Constitution  has  made  no  provision  forwour  holding 
foieign  territory ;  still  less  for  incorporating  foreign  nations 
into  our  Union."  But  under  circumstances  so  imperative 
he  thought  the  political   departments   of   the   government 


©' 


♦ 


'^WJv 


16 


THE    ACQUISITION  "OF    LOUfSIAMA.     ' 


«hould  meet  the  emergency  by  consummiiting  the  purchase, 
and  "then  appeal  to  the  nation  for  an  additional  article  in 
the  Constitution  approving  and  confirming  an  act  which 
the  nation  had  not  previously  authorized."  He  did  not  con- 
ceal from  himself,,  however,  that  in  so  doing  ground  would 
be  occupied  which  it  would  be  ^difficult  to  defend,  and  he 
proceeds  to  say :  "The  less  that  is  said  about  any  constitu- 
tional difficulty  the  better.  Congress  should  do  what  is  nec- 
essary in  silence.  I  find  but  one  opinion  as  to  the  necessity 
of  shutting  up  the  Constitution  for  some  time."  Mr.  John 
<^uincy  Adams  held  similar  views,  and,  as  he  says  in  his 
diary,  "urged  the  necessity  of  removing  as  speedily  as  pos- 
sible all  question  On  the  subject."  This  could  only  be  done 
in  the  mode  proposed  by^  Mr,  Jefferson ;  that  is  -to  say  by 
amendment. 

But  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  any  ddctrine  more  danger- 
ous or  more  distinctly  antagonistic  to  the  fundamental  ideaH 
of  the  American  Union  than  the  doctrine  that  the  Constitu- 
tion may  be  "shut  up"  for  a  time  in  order  that  the-  govern- 
ment may  accomplish  so^iething  not  warranted  by  it.  The 
political  iipniorality  was  obvious  and  glaring;  more  so  in 
the  case  of  the  apostle  of  strict  construction  than  it  could' 
have  been  if  advanced  by  any  other  statesman  of  the  day.  But 
by  whomsoever  advanced,  it  was  intrinsically  demoralizing,  for 
it  suggested  to  the  public  mind  that 'officers  deriving  all 
their  authority  from  the  Constitution  might  at  pleasure  set 
it  aside  whenever  a  supporting  majority  of  the  people  was 
obtainable.  This  was  to  put  the  temporary  majority  above 
the  Constitution ;  to  deprive  that  instrument  of  all  restrain- 
ing and  conservative  force ;  to  make  the  official  oath  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  a  meaningless  formality ;  and  to  de- 
prive the  fundamental  law  in  the  popular  as  well  as  tliQ  of- 
ficial mind  of  all  sense  of  sanctity.  In  a  monarchy  the  "di-"' 
vinity  that  doth  hedge  a  King"  will  commonly  support  his 
throne  with  an  active  and  reverent  sentiment  of  loyalty.  In  a 
republican  government  a  corresponding  sentiment  must  con- 
centrate upon  the  Constitution  as  the  true  representative  of 
sovereignty,  which,  because  it  is  such  representative,  is  to 
be  with  unhesitating  and  patriotic  regard  held  sacred  and 
inviolable.  Such  a  sentirflient  when  it  exists  is  a  vital  force 
of  great  and  saving  power  in  the  government ;  but  it  can 
grow  up  only  when  the  Constitution  is  habitually  observed, 
and  when  it  is  seen  to  restrain  the   governing   majority   as 


-^ii 


^-^v^/-^«,t?*^  ■^■ 


oMB^i^  ■«^*re}^  ftf  -J 


•>  ^'■>^"^s 


prHE    ACQUISITION    OP    LOUISIANA. 


17 


it  does  those  who  for  the  time  constitute  the  smaller  and 
weaker  party.  Mr.  Jefterson,  therefore,  struck  a  dangerous 
Jflow  at  the  foundat^n  principles  of  the  government,  and  of- 
fered to  demagojiftfes  who  should  come  after  him  a  corrupting 
and  dangerous  precedent,  when  he  proposed  to  violate  the 
Constitution  in  order  to  accomplish  an  object  of  immediate 
desire.  And  it  was  quite  immaterial  that  the  object  to  be 
accomplished  appeared  to  be  of  great  importanqe  and  urg- 
ency :  party  measures  commonly  appear  such  to  party  lead- 
ers, and  the  plea  is  one  that  can  always  be  advanced  and 
will  be  found  as  available  in  one  case  as  in  another  if  popular 
support  can  be  gained  for  it. 

'But  Mr^  Jetterson's  political  mistake  was  scarcely  greater 
than  that  committed  by  his  opponents :  and  indeed  from  a 
party  standpoint  it  was  no  mistake  whatsoever,  but .  a  bold 
measure  of  wise  policy.  He  lightly  judged  that  the  pur- 
chase would  meet  with  popular  approval  and  would  strength- 
en his  administration  and  his  party.  If  this  proved  to  be 
the^  case  the  political  wrong  would  be  condoned  by  the  pop- 
ular voice  even  though  it  would  stand  as  a  dangerous  prece- 
dent. But  the  purchase,  according  to  the  Federal  view  of 
the  Constitution  was  perfectly  legitimate.  That  instrument 
had  given  to  the  Federal  Government  complete  control  of 
the  foreign  relations  of  the  states,  and  vested  it  with  the 
powers  of  sovereignty  in  respect  to  them  as  completely  m 
they  were  possessed  by  any  other  power  on  the  globe.'  If, 
therefore,  any  other  power  might  acquire  territory  by  pur- 
chase or  otherwise,  the  United  States  must  possess  the  compe- 
tency to  do  so.  This,  according  to  the  Federal  construction 
of  the  Constitution  was  clear  and  unquestionable.  If  the 
express  authority  were  not  given,  the  power  was  nevertheless 
to  be  implied  from  the  complete  grant  of  sovereignty  in  re- 
spect to  the  general  subject :  otherwise,  as  the  states  were 
deprived  by  the  Constitution  of  all  participation  in  diplo- 
matic intercourse,  the  extraordinary  spectacle  would  be  ex- 
hibited of  a  great  nation  so  hampered  and  tied  up  by  its  in- 
ternal regulations  that  in  no  emergency,  however  great  or 
imperative,  could  it  deal  with  another  for  the  acquisition  of 
territory :  for  a  spot  even  for  a  fortress  or  a  light- house,  or 
for  an  indispensible  passage  way.  This  was  at  war  with  the 
doctrine  which  the  Federalists  h^d  advocated  from  the  first. 
According  to  their  construction  of  the  Constitution  the  gov*- 
ernment  had  been  invested  by  it  with    complete   powers   of 


18 


THE    ACQUISITION    OF   LOUISIANA. 


I     I 


*■  J 


sovereigiity  over  all  the  subjects  entrusted  to  it,  except  as 
express  restrictions  were  imposed.  A  Federalist  therefore, 
might  very  well  regard  -  with  satisfaction  the,  purchase  of 
Louisiana,  since  it  could  only  be  lawfully  made  in ,  recogni- 
tion of  the  federal  doctrine  of  implied  national  powers.  He 
might  also  be  pleased  with  it  because  it  must  tend  greatly 
to  strengthen  the  national  authority,  which  had  been  an  im- 
portant object  of  federal  policy  from  the  time\the  govern- 
ment was  organized.  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  one  of  the  most 
consistent  and  able  of  the  Federalist  leaders,  saw  this  very 
plainly,  and  gave  strong  Approval  to  the  purchase.  Hamil- 
ton saw  it  with  efqual  distincthesk  He  had  never  had  any 
fears  of  evils  to  spring  from  territorial  expansion,  arid  he 
had  little  patience  with  the  disposition  the  Federalists  now 
exhibited  to  fall  back  on  a  strict  construction  of  the  Consti- 
tution and  embarrass  the  Government  with  scruples  as  to 
power.  "It  will  never  do,"  he  said,  "to  carry  the  tnorals  of 
a  monk  into  the  cabinet  of  a  statesman."  No  doubt  he 
agreed  in  the  view  expressed  by  John  Quincy  Adams  a  little 
later  that  the  purchase  was  "an  assumption  of  implied  pow- 
ers greater  in  itself  and  more  comprehensive  in  its  conse- 
quences than  all  the  assumptions  of  implied  powers  in .  the 
twelve  years  of  the  Washington  and  Adams  administrations 
put  together."  But  this  was  of  no  moment  if  the  act  was 
wise  in  itsdlf  and  warranted  by  the  /Constitution,  and  of 
the  wisdom  of  the  acquisition  he  took  thje  same  broad  and  en- 
lightened view  which  was  expressed  by  Franklin  to  Jay  in 
1794  when  in  answer  to  a  suggestion  that  we  should  concede 
to  Spain  its  claims  he  said : '  "I  would  rather  agree  with 
the  Spaniards  to  buy  at  a  great  price  the  whole  of  their 
xight  on  the  Mississippi  than  sell  a  drop  of  its  waters.  A 
neighbor  might  as  well  ask  me  to  sell  ray  street  door." 

The  purchase  was  accomplished  with  popular  approval. 
LaFayette  justly  called  it  a  "  blessed  arrangement  for  Louisi- 
ana," and  wrote  to  Edward  Livingstoip  brother  to  the  min- 
ister, "With  ail  my  heart  I  rejoice  with  you  on  this  great  ^ 
negotiation."  But  the  Federalists  in  general  took  narrow 
and  partisan  views,  and  in  order  to  embarrass  the  adminis- 
tration resorted  to  quibbles  .which  were  altogether  unworthy 
the. party  which  had  boasted  of  Washington  as  its  chief  and 
Hamilton  as  the  exponent  of  its  doctrines.  First,  they  ques- 
tioned the  validity  of  the  title  which.  France  assumed  to 
convey,  and  which  they  claimed  was  hampered  by  conditions 


f 


^-. 


«->->^'. 


THE^  AXJQUISITION'OF    LOUISIANA. 


19 


i 


in*tiie  Spanish  transfer:  an  objection  which  properly  be- 
longed to  Spain  herself  to  raiser  if  it  had  any  force.  Sec- 
ond, they  objected  ths^  ifi  the  purchase  it  was  agrdfed  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  acquired  territory  should  be  clothed 
with  the  rights  of  citizenship,  whereas  the  con&titutiob  vest- 
ed the  power  to  naturalize  exclusively  in  Congress.  But  if 
the  powfer  to  acquire*  the  tersrtory  existed^his  objection  was 
without  merit  since  the  power^i^  confer  .citizenship  upon  the 
people  must  be  incidental.  Thifd,  th^  complaiped  that  the 
acquisition  added  greatly  td  the  presidential  patronage; 
the  last  objection  that  a  Federalist,  anxious  to  strengthen 
the  national  authority,  could  consistently  raise.  And  be- 
sides other  objections  which  wer^  mere  cavijs,.  they  claimed 
that  the  boundaries  of  Louisiana  were  wholly  uncertain  and 
undefined,  so^hat  it  was  impossible  to  say  what' we  had  pur- 
chased. This  last  objection  was,  based  in  fact.  No  one 
could  say  what'Vv^as  the  south  west  boundary  of  the  t^itory 
acquired ;  whether  it  should  be  the  Sabine  o?  the  Rio  del 
Norte ;  and  a  controvefsy'^ith  Spain  on  the  subject  might 
at  any  time  ai^ise.  The  northwest  boundary  was  also  some- 
what vague  arid  uncertain,  and  would  be^»pen^jto  controversy 
with  Great  Britain.  The  territory  extenoM^west  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  was  not  questioned,  but  itxmight  be 
claimed  that  it  extended  to  the  TPacific.  An  impressteji  that 
it  did  so  extend  has  since  prevailed  in  some  quarters,  ifiad  in 
some  public  papers  arid  documents  it  has  been.assumed  as 
an  undQubted  fact.  But  neither  Mr.  "^Jeff'ersbn  nor  the 
French,  whose  right  he  purchased,  ever  claimed  for  Louisi- 
ana any  such  eitent  and  our  title  to  Oregon,  has  been  safely 
deuced  frdm  other  sources.*  Mr.  Jetferson  sai^  expressly, 
"'Bo  the  waters  of  the  Pacific,  We v  can  found  nojplaimin 
right  of  Louipiana,'^ 

But  the  Federal  leaders  did  not  stop  at  cavils;  they  insis- 
ted that  the  unconstitutional  exTtensipn  of  territory  was 
in  effect  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  ,80  that  they  were  at  lib- 
erty to  contemplate  and  plan  for  affinal  disruption.  "Mr. 
Timothy  Pickering,  Mr.  Roger  Griswold  and  Mr.  .^osiah 
Qutncy  were  particularly  outspoken  in  this  regard.  They 
saw  in  this  vast  acquisition  of  western  territory  the  final 
overthrow  of  ^the  Federal  party,  the  triumph  of  Democratic 
ideas,  the  destruction  of  the  conservative  influence  of  New 
England  in  the  nation,  and  the  impoverishment  of  ^heir  sec- 
tibn  by  the  transfer  of  population  and  enterprise  to  the  west 


J 


K 


'^^fW^:r 


THE    ACQUISITION  'OF    LOUISIANA. 


20 


and  soutli.  ^^^^t>ir  /earn  wereas  extravagant  as  their  poli- 
^l  *•"  M^'**^  ^i»ted  rind  sjiicidal.     Even  in  their  own  section 
of  ihm  Lnion  the#  >.itt»»r  complaints   fell  on  deaf  ears,  and 
they  Wows  they  aimed  at  Mr.  Jertnrson,  while  failing  to  harn. 
.hini,  from  their  very  violence. recoiled  destructively  upon  tW     ' 
pRrtjr  Ihey  assumed  to  lead.     Mr.  Jetlerson,  as  president  it      '" 
IS  plfttii  to  be  sfeen,  now,  committed  some  serious  mistakes 
but  iiu«i  of  f  hem  ho  great,   in  a  purty  point  of  view,  as  the 
mistake  of   th.f  Federalists  in  opposing  .the  acquisition  of 
Louisiana.     That  party,  though  still,  for  a  time,  possesning 
considerable  vitality,  was  never  again  able  to  make  hopeful 
contest  for  the  government  of  the  country.     From   1800  to 
I8I4  its  partyism  was  'stronger  than'  its  patriotism,  and  it 
justly  suff'ered  the  penalty.  '  .  . , 

Briefly  now,  we  direct  attention  to  such  subsequent  events 
•  ot  importance  as  connect  thehiselves  directly  with  the  Lou- 
isiana purchase. 

I.  When  the  purchase  was  accomplished  the  parties  con- 
cerned in  it  troubled  themselves .  no  mrtre  with  scruples 
respecting  the  want  of  constitutional. power.  The  purchase 
was  a  finality,  and  if  inade  without  author4ty,  it  was  never- 
theless made  and  could  not  be  unmade.  A  constitutional 
amendment  might  affirm  it,  but  it  needed  no  affirmation  for 
Its  protection,  and  the  ^nly  advanta^in  having  one  wouhl 
^e  to  quiet  doubts  and  remove  scru^pr  But  when  the  Fed- 
eralists came  tO  mak^  profession  of  scruples,  Mr.  Jetlerson 
and  his  friends  from  party  antagonism,  found  their  own 
scruples  growing  weaker,  and  very'  soon  ceasing  to  trouble 
them..  The  more  vigorously  the  Federalists  cried  out  against 
the  violation  of  the  Constitution,  the  more  complaisant  the 
Republicans  became,  and  the  less  dispbsed  to  question  the* 
original  |ustificattpn.  The  annexation  of  the.  territory  wa)s 
therefoi:§|it;cepted  as  a  legitimate  exercise  of  constitutional 
authority,  and  it  settled  for  all  time  the  question  ,of 
It  established  a  precedent  which  w^isvcertain  to  be  ff 
whenever  occasion  should  invite  it,  ISI  it  would  be 
conjj^nd-  that  thti^  Constitution  dfd  not  sanction  wL.,..,™.. 
thus  <vith  pubjic  approval  been  so  successfully  accomplished. 

II.  The  gbur.QhasG  also  tended  to  strengthen  very  greatly 
the  federal .ifefiiBrer.     This  was  not  merely  l)ecause  it  created 

<J^^nt^fl  considerable  expenditure'  of 

*cause-  it  constituted  an  exercise  of 

Jwrti^j^n  their  nature,  by  the  partv 


ed  new '  ottt* 
public  mom 
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THE    AC^UISITIoIn    0>    LOUISIANA.- 


'  .    21 

ta^  afl^i;^  I'^^ul^  "^^"^^^-^  ^Kainst  them.     It  was 
the  fedPr«r^n    '         *l^*  P*'*^«^'  ^"^  ^^^^^^^  ^^  contend  that, 
pi^Wy'grlTJ  "."^^  *^^^^  ''''''  ^«  ^»^«P—  ex/ 

tio^bt'tTw^''"™:^!^'n^^^^  ^  P^rty  of  Btrict  construc- 
policy,  when  circumstances  appeared  to  lustiiHr  it  „«,i  j> 
has  repeatedly  yielded  from  tfiSe  to  tiLVfrol^t^'atXy  to 

ouSj^^f  ^^  •  ^'^^^"^  "^^  settlement  of  a  constitutional 
^l^^SPIMitxercisinga  power  which  the  actors  asserted  had 

UnJ^^^^^^'^'""^^  ""^  iteelf  indefensible,  the  settle- 
e^th!  ^i!"    ."^  ""^^  '^""^  *"^  "^^*^*'     ^r-  Jefferson's  scru-  « 
InSon  in'for^f  Tif  ''^''"■^  unwarranted.     It  was  not  the 
-  he  ryn^on    in  T^^  ^'  constitution  that  the  government  of 
haleVnv  ie  s  th«tTh  ^^'^  ^"^^rnational  questions,  should^ 
possessed  hv   nth.     '*^"^  ^^^^^  9«mplete  authority  which-is 
Thmild  h.  ^^   ff.  independent   governments,    or   that- it- 
shoruld  be  precluded  und^r  any  cii^cum stances  from  reco£  -  - 
n  p3  ^''r  '"''"^  npon'such  motives  of  necessity  aSd  of  ^ 
preme  policy  as  may  be  recognized  and  acted  upon  by  otheb 
In  facVthe  President's „scruples  were  barn  o^art/conTn-' 
tion;  andwe  may  well  believe  that  reflection   brought  to 
his^miSd  a  conviction  of  their  baseless  nature  "^  • 

stif utin^ri^  practical  settlement  of  the  question  of  con- 

stitutional power  did  not  heal  the  wound   the  Constitution 
•e<ieived  when  the  chief  officer  holding  office  underTt  lav  sed  • 

tAr:r"l  P"^''°^  ''  "^^^^'   -nd   secured  the  approval 
of  his  advice  bya  numerical  majority  of  the  people 

canseVS'whr/h'''rr  "^'' '""'^   ''^''^  upon  his,  work  we 
can  see  that  what  he  did  was    not  u//ra  vires:  „the  poison  was 

m  the  doctrine  which  took  from  the  Constitution  alsaci^d 

That' wt  r^^^.r'''^^'-  '^  **^^  ""^   ^^^  «-P««e  of^he  Cut      - 
til        '/-^  '^"  ^f  ""^  «^^^»«  ^«"?d«r«'  ^as  above  parties 
metnttThoir/h'"^   Presidents^  aSd  congresses,  and  wa 
meant  to  hold  them  all  in  close  subordination.     After  that 
time  the  proposal  to  exercise  unwarranted  powers  on  a  plea 
o    necessity  might  be  safely  advanced  withC'dLgt: 
detestation  it  deserved ;  and  the  sentiment  of  loyalty  to    he 
Constitution  was  so  far  weakened   that  it  easily  lave  wav 
under  the  pressure  of  political  expediency.     Ver^^f' w  pe? 
sons  when  rebellion  broke  out  were  restrained  from  enja'^ 
mg  in  It  by  reverence  for  the  Constitution;  anion  the  paft  » 


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22        ;  .THE    ACCjUlSI-JION    PF   J.0UI8IANA. 

odt' tUe  Union,- 80  long  aH^ThoHtilittes  lasted,  usurpattons,  by 
uulltary  arid^civil  •  onicerw  were  vp.opuJarly.  justified  by  the 
strange  paradox  tliat  it  is  right  to  violate  the  constitution* 
when,  the  piuipese  is  to  save  it.  .There  is  something  specious 
about  such  k  doctrine,  bYit  the  Ifberty  it  allows  might  satis- 
fy t!he  mosj;  rt^ckless  fanatic  or  anarchist ;  for  it  gives  un- 
bridled license^  and  knaves  every  man  to  judge  for  himself 
of  t^ie  times  ami  occasions  when  he  will  elevate  his  owp  dis- 
cretion  above  that  great  charter  ()f  national  unity,  which,  if 
sacredly  preserved  and  defended,  will  make  the  freest  gov- 
ernment in  the. world  the  strongest  and  most  conservative. 
I.V.  The  acquisition  of  Louisiana  gave  occasion  for  such 
contests  over  the-institution  of  slavery  as  at  several  periods 
brought  the  l-nion  to  the  verge  of  disj'uption,  and  at  last  led 
to  civil  war.  From  the  tirst  there  was  aparty  Vhich  contfen- 
(.led  that  Louisiana  was  [nought  to  give  room  for  an  extension 
of  slavery,  or,  that  if  that  was  not  the  motive,  the  puitihase 
gave  the  opportunity  for  such  extension  an(l  for  a  predoipj* 
natil!j*i,nf1uence  of  the  South  and  West  in  the  Union.  I'he 
admission  qf  new  states  formed  from  the  purchase  was 
therefore  contested  on  the  ground  that  the  original  accpii- 
sition,  being  unwarranted  by  the  Constitution,  the  territory 
could  not  be  considered  the  property  of  the  United  States 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  new  states  from  it.  The  Hart- 
ford Convention  which  met  in  the  most  gloomy  period  of  the 
last  war  with  (Ireat  Britain  made  the  admission  of  new 
fttates  in  the  West  one  of  its  grounds  of  complaint  against 
|nc  ii»'neral  government,  an  ii:bsurdcom{)laint  if  the  purchase 
of  Louisiana  was  justifiable,  lint  the  more  senous  conten- 
tion arose  When  the  State  of  Missouri  ap{)lied  for  admission 
to  the  Union,  with  a  const it.ut4on  framed  to  perpetuate  sla- 
very. The  alarm  which  this  created  was  ai)tly  compared 
"to  a  fire  l)ell  in  the  night  time,  which,  while  announcing  a 
.real  terror,  excites  the  imagination  with  others  which  aru 
unknown  and  indefinite  and  for  that  very  reason  more  fear- 
ful. 'IMu'  great  compromise  effected  under  the  leadership  of 
Mr.  Clay  (iuiete(l.  the  alarm  for  tjie  time,  but  it  did  so  at  tlie 
cost  of  a  line  of  distiiu't  demarcation  fietween  free/fmT^slave 
territory  iiT  the  (ireaf  West;  a  line  which  constitiucd  a  i)er- 
p«'fual  remiiuler  of  antagonistic  interests,  and  f*<T  that  rea- 
son was  in  itself  a  standing  menace  to  unity.  The  senti 
ment  of  patrioiism  henceforward  gradually  took  on  some- 
thing of  a  sectional  character,  and  pu4)lic  measures  wefead- 


THE'  ACQUISITION    OF    LOUISIANA.  23 

vocated  or  antagonized  according  as  it  was  supposed   that 
"\  iVn^  ^^'-^^  .^""^^  Htrengthen  or  weaken  a  section, 
.lo  follow  m  detail  the  successive   events   which   were   al- 
.  Htnl      f"     ,^  *^^^lv  part  of  this  paper  would  be  to  rehearse 
.1  Htor.y  already  so  often  told    as  to   have  become  somewhat 
monotonous  and  tiresome.     Th£  ac(,uisition  of  Texas-   the 
war  with   Mexico ;    the   unexpected   results  of  that  wir  in 
Htrengthenmg  the  free  rather  than  the  slave-holding  section 
ct  the  Union;  the  advancement  of  the  doctrine  of  squatter 
sovereignty,  or  as  Gov.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  aptly    phrased   it, 
of  what  squatter  with  arms  in  his  hands  shall  be  sovereign  • 
the  compromise  of  iHfXl  entered  into  to  save  a  Union  then 
lUZ^T^'i  ^'"\^i"  ^^^^^^"Ption ;  the  extra-judicial  declara- 
tion of  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  that  Congress  is  without 
power  to  legislate  against  slavery   in   the  territories;    the 
-/^a«  cm    war  in   Kansas  which  prepared   the  way  for  the 
mighty  struggle  of  which   the  gage   was  national  life;  the 
great  revolution  in  the  prevalent  system  of  labor  in  half  the 
Union :  these  were  events  the  story  of  which  will  be  told  and 
retold   'to  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time;  "  but  we  shall 
not  dwell  upon  them  here,  for  the  bitter  controversies  which' 
attended   still   rankle  in   many  minds,   and  we  gladly  turn 
away  from  them  to  contemplate  with  patriotic  satisfaction  a 
Union  of  mightj  states  purified  and  perfected  in  the  great 
tribulation  whi«b  made  Ui^  neople  homogeneous. 

We  have  said  that  the  Ordinance  of  1787  was  the  beginning 
of  the  end  of  American  slavery.     In.  the  greht  North  West 
was  then  witnessed  the  first  triumph  ov^r  that  mighty  insti- 
tution recognized  at  the  time  alike  by  Christians. xMoliamme- 
dans  and  heathen;  and  which  inside  th,'  union  of  states  an- 
agonized  their  fundamental  prin(i],les.     We  stand  here    on 
i.Btpnc  ground      We  do  not  forget  that    tliere.  were    slaves 
held  here  as  well  as  elsewhere  in  the  country;   slaves  umler 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty   with    France    whereby    Canada 
was  surrendered,  and  also   under  the    treaties    between    the 
I  nited  States  and  Great  Britain;   but  tke  people  of  Indiana 
and  of  the  country  at   large  can  never  be  too    grateful    that 
vMmmi  in  their  days  of  pioneer    hardship    the    early    settlers 
asked  relief  from  the  prohibition  of  bond  service,  a  patriotic 
<  ongress  denied  the  request,  and  held  firmly  to  the  original 
compact.     If  ever  that  extraordinary  eharaeter,  .John    Ran- 
•lolph,  exhibited  qualities  of  true  statesmanship,  it  was  when 
resisting  all  solicitations,  and  all  sectional  and   local    intlul 


24 


THK    ACQUISITION    OF    LOUISIANA. 


ences,  he  refused  to  be  a  party  to  the  suspension  of  the  Or- 
dinance of  1787  and  declared  it  "highly  dangerous  and  in- 
expedient to  impair  a  provision  wisely  calculated  to  pro- 
mote the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  Northwestern  coun- 
try, and  to  give  strength  and  security  to  that  extensive  fron- 
tier." It  was  well  said  by  him  in  addition  that  "in  the  sal- 
utary operation  of  this  sagacious  and  benevolent  restraint 
it  is  believed  that  the  inhabitants  of  Indiana  will  at  no  very 
distant  day  find  ample  remuneration  for  a  temporary  priva- 
tion of  labor  and  emigration. "  Ample  indeed  !  What  the 
people  asked  for  was  permii|ion  to  build  into  the  structure 
of  the  social  and  civil  state  an  insidious  eVil  that  must  inevi- 
tably sap  the  energies  of  the  people  and  corrupt  the  morals 
of  society.  Randolph  forced  them  to  be  content  with  a 
blessing  when  in  their  blindness  they  would  willingly  have 
bound  themselves  to  a  curse.  Possibly  the  eccentric  Virgin- 
ian who  at  a  later  day  denounced  in  such  severe  and  cutting 
terms  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  may  have 
already  perceived  the  great  truth  and  r-ejoiced  in  knowing 
that  freedom  once  securely  planted  in  the  heart  of  the 
country  must  in  time  by  inherent  energy  expand  and 
strengthen  and  subdue  and  possess  until  from  ocean  to 
ocean  it  held  in  safe  embrace  the  Contineht. 

Thus    briefly    have    we  endeavored    to   picture  tht^  great 
event  which   so    vastly   expanded   the  territory  and  so  jjro- 
foundly  affected  the  destiny  of  the  republic.     Its  benefits  to 
the   country   have   been    too   great   and   too  numerous  to  be  . 
placed  before  the  mind  by  enumeration  or  estimate. 

In  congratulating  ourselves  upon  these  we  have  not 
thought-it  unwise  or  impertinent  to  emphasize  the  incidental 
evils  which  may  spring  from  teaching  the  people  that  the 
fundamental  law  may  be  silenced  in  supposed  emergencies. 
If  there  be  any  peculiar  excellence  in  the  American  Consti- 
tutional System  it  must  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  ten- 
dencies as  well  to  usurpation  as  to  license  are  heUl  in  close 
restraint  by  a  law  that  never  ceases  to  give  effective  command, 
and  upon  which  we  may  all  repose  in  trust  and  confidence. 
If  a  a^eat  political  party  may  excuse  the  overriding  of  the 
constitution  for  one  ])urpbse,  a  riotous  mob  may  do  so  for 
anotfier,  and  at  last  comes  the  anarchist,  who,  perceivin<: 
that  others  are  a  law  unto  themselves,  boldly  repudiates  all 
law,  human  and  divine,  and  lays  murderous  hands  upon 
society   and  civilzation.    .It  is  of  the  essence  of  freedom  tliat 


pmm^mmmm 


TKK    ACQUISITION    OK    LOUISIANA. 


25 


sometimes  it  shalT  breed  excesses;  but  if  curbed  by  n  senti- 
ment of  loyalty  to  the  constitution,  the  excesses  will  seldom 
be  serious,  and  we  may  justly  expect  that  the  great  republic 
of  the  new  world  will  yet  as  far  surpass  all  others  in  solidity 
and  duration  as  it  does  now  in  the  liberty  it  ensures  to  its 
people.  But  to  render  certain  a  result  so  beneficent  it  is 
essential  that  we  yield  to  the  constitution  no  divided  allegi- 
ance, and  that  however  great  may  seem  to  be  anj^  existing 
emergency,  4he  party  or  sectional  aims  that  are  involved 
shall  be  subdued  and  subordinated  to  the  higher  demands  of 
a  broad  and  conservative  patriotisim. 


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